Hi Ryan, this looks a similar form factor to the Play 5 (another nightmare for Support with your naming convention I imagine ….) - a bit of a flat on the top?

Where are the microphones for the Voice control?  No other mics in this (like on the Play 5) - so still relies on phones for Trueplay?

Any idea of UK pricing?

New Sonos 5 £499 in the Uk

new Arc playbar £799

I bought my play5’s a Month ago and i was really worry that i would be pissed if they released a gen3, honestly i couldnt care less, really disappointed not even voice control? So all this just for more ram, Better cpu, i honestly tought there was going to be atleast 1 wow factor here, Sure they will probably last for 15 years but if my play5’s can last for atleast 6-7 years i migth actually have a chance to get Gen4 for 30% off, maybe i expect to much? Anyway i love sonos No matter what

Ooh, there are no microphones so no native voice control despite the “Control Sonos Five with your voice” ‘feature’ mentioned above.

That’s correct, there aren’t any microphones built in, and the second generation had a couple in its first run that were never turned on, and I believe they were even removed from future versions of hardware. The Sonos Five is ready to be controlled by any Alexa or Google Assistant enabled device.

Happy to finally see a white version of this speaker that is actually white, but WTF Sonos, why no voice assistant? The assistant in the One is great, and requiring the addition of an external mini/dot to the Five is a mistake. I know because that is what I do with my legacy Play:5s - they just don’t work the same as the integrated assistant. Sigh, at least I’ll now have AirPlay.

There’s probably not enough space in that enclosure to stick a wide field array of speakers. At least that’s my guess. I use random Dots and Shows to listen to my voice and control my Sonos devices. I’ve actually turned off the mics on my Sonos Ones. 

Voice control actually works slightly different between Alexa on a One and Alexa on a Dot. It is a pain for a specific but often use application on my system, which I was hoping to avoid with an upgrade.

Yes, that’s due, I believe, to the way Amazon limits what they’ll allow on third party hardware versus their own hardware, so they can maintain their own sales. That wouldn’t change with a new piece of hardware from Sonos. 

It works the way I want on a One, so would also on an assistant enabled Five. It does not work the way I want when I use a Dot.

Replacing legacy Play:5 Recommendations? I have so much Sonos it is embarrassing. Here’s the problem. My original Play:5 is doomed. I wasn’t crazy about the quality since the rest of the house has 2 gen Play:5, two sets of Playbar/Sub/Amp for home theater, and Play:1 and Ones scattered all about. The legacy Play:5 is on the bottom shelf of a wall unit in a sitting room that is adjacent to my great room which has the smaller of my TVs (62) with a Playbar, Sub, and two Ones for surround. So, when I play music, it bleeds into the sitting room but the Play:5 adds a little more punch. I already used my 30% off TradeUp to buy outdoor speakers and a new amp. Better to spend that deal on a package than a single speaker. I have another 20% burning a hole in my pocket. So, here’s the question…

1. Do I replace the legacy Play:5 with a new Five (which could be over kill for the space)...or
2. Do I remove the Playbar I installed a year ago with my new TV in the basement rec room. 82” with PlayBar, Sub, and amp powered BostonAcoustics as the surrounds? Then...add the new Arc and new Sub to that room and put the old PlayBar as the speaker on the bottom shelf where the Play:5 is that needs to move on? 

I’m leaning towards the second option. I’d probably by the combo so I get the new sub though I’m not sure I really need it. I might consider using one of the old subs outside though I’m not sure how easy it is to connect and disconnect. Though if I run it wirelessly, it would be pretty easy to just take outside and put on the patio for parties. 

I guess the real question is would a Playbar without sub (but in an open floor plan where a Sub is located attached to another Player) be a decent replacement for legacy Play:5 at lower volumes and a fill speaker?

I was thinking there would be a new enclosure designed to accommodate the mic array.  I can see where they did not think it was worth the extra cost since no other design changes were needed and perhaps they did not get customer feedback saying it was needed.

There is some drawback to not having the mics onboard though.  Echo devices now have a feature where they can act as listening devices only, but respond through a different Alexa enabled device.  So for example, you can have several echo dots, echos, echo inputs, etc in a room listening for commands, but your Sonos One does all the talking, or your Beam, Move, or Arc.   It’s an nice feature, and one have been nice with the Five...if it was an Alexa enabled device.  Note, this feature doesn’t work for Echo Shows, probably because of the video aspect.  Also note, you can’t have one speaker do the Alexa speaking for the group, and a different speaker do the music playback.

The fact that I can’t stereo pair the Five with my Play:5 is totally bogus. I was literally about to add my stereo pair tonight, now I’m screwed. Thanks a lot sonos

Play:5 Gen 1 or Gen 2?

Gen 2

Well, that would be an obvious pairing, so I wonder why it is excluded? Perhaps the audio dynamics are so different that it wouldn’t sound right.

Further to my last post, why isn’t the new Five called the Five SL @Ryan S? That would align the naming nomenclature and leave room for a Five with a microphone in the future.

Agreed. Says right in the FAQ that it will only pair with another Five. Pretty sure they just want us to buy 2 speakers

It’s an interesting theory, but I don’t think that is the case. If it was, why would they let the One and One SL to join together.

Literally just purchased and setup my first play 5 gen 2 when I heard there was a gen 3 out very annoying. Don’t know whether to return it but then again doesn’t seem to be that big a jump. Hopefully the gen 2 has plenty of life in it and sounds great. Thoughts ? 

Did you get a discount on the Gen 2, or is there a price difference between the Gen 2 and Gen 3?

So I was really happy the 5 was going to be replaced as there was no way I was going to replace my G1 Play:5 with a 5 year old product and I’d really like to add voice control where my Play:5 is situated (and there isn’t room for a Nest Mini / Dot).

Without voice control? I think this means I’ll try sticking with S1. It also means I’m now unlikely to replace my two legacy Connects anytime soon so my planned Sonos spending just went to nil. 

Return it, 100%

Was going to say the two big reasons to swap are the extra longevity of the Five over the Play:5 Gen 2 and the new all-white colour scheme. If you prefer the older colour and you got a discount, I’d stick with what you have.